Participation in online electronic games is an increasingly popular pastime. Online game play permits players to interact with many more players than is typically possible when play is limited to those using the same game console. Online game players also benefit from the diverse social interaction that results from playing with a much larger pool of friends. Although playing online games with strangers can also be interesting, a player will often prefer to play with people who are actually known to the player in the “real world,” or are participants in online gaming who the player has found to be compatible during previous sessions of online game play. A player may choose to play a specific game with a friend or group of friends, and depending upon the nature of the game, the friends may compete individually against each other, or be on the same team, or members of competitive teams.
Microsoft Corporation's XBOX LIVE™ gaming service provides several options for a subscriber of the service to enter into online game play after signing onto the service. Currently, by selecting an “OptiMatch option,” it is possible for a user of this online gaming service to join an online game that meets various criteria specified by the user. If the user just wants to play a game immediately, the player can select a “QuickMatch” option, and in response, the gaming service will join the user in playing the first identified instance of the game with an open player slot. As a further alternative, a player can host a new game by selecting an option to “Create a Game” and thereby specify options within the game that control the way the game will be played and can specify whether the game will be only open to players on the user's friends list.
The XBOX LIVE online gaming service enables each player who has subscribed to the service to create a “friends list” of other subscribers to the service. The friends list is stored by the XBOX LIVE gaming service and is accessible by the player each time that the player signs onto the gaming service. Each player included in the friends list is identified by that player's unique Gamertag, which was selected by that player when first signing up as a new subscriber to the gaming service. When a player views the friends list after signing onto the gaming service, icons next to each Gamertag indicate whether a friend is currently online and whether a friend is using a voice communication module. If a friend's Gamertag is selected in the list, the game that the selected friend is playing is indicated, as well as the progress of the selected friend within the game and whether there are empty slots for any other players in the game. Selecting the Gamertag of a friend for some games also causes the display of stats for the friend's game, such as the current score, time remaining to finish play, etc.
Currently, to join a friend in playing the game in which the friend is playing, a user must select the friend's Gamertag, access the friend's options within a menu, select the option to join the friend's game, and then press a control key on a game console controller to initiate joining in playing the friend's game. Thus, there are several steps that must be carried out by a user to join in playing the game in which a friend is playing. Clearly, it would be preferable to enable a user of an online gaming service to immediately join a friend in playing a game by making a single control selection. It should not be necessary for a user to take multiple steps to accomplish this task. Furthermore, if the user wants to join a specific friend on a friends list in playing an online game, the user should only be required to select the friend (e.g., the friend's Gamertag) and activate a single control. The gaming service should respond to these control actions by immediately joining the user in the instance of the game being played by the friend.